


cold cold wet day

by hjea



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Barney Barton - Freeform, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-17
Updated: 2014-11-17
Packaged: 2018-02-25 19:20:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2633300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hjea/pseuds/hjea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint shares a memory from his childhood in a quiet moment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	cold cold wet day

**Author's Note:**

> Makes allusions to past child abuse.

The rain drummed impossibly harder again the window, and Clint leaned his head back against the couch and sighed for the umpteenth time that day. “ _The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play_.” He muttered to the ceiling.  

 

Natasha looked up from her book beside him and raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

 

“The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play. So we sat in the house all that cold, cold, wet day.” He repeated more clearly. “It’s _The Cat in the Hat_.”

 

“Ah.” Natasha looked back down and flipped her page over.

 

“Didn’t get a lot of Dr. Seuss in the Red Room Library?”

 

Natasha snorted. “Funnily enough, no.” She paused for a moment, and then deliberately put a finger on her place and closed the book, turning her full attention to Clint. “I’m a little surprised you did actually.”

 

Clint shifted and looked out the window, avoiding Natasha’s close gaze. “What? In my wholesome and enriched childhood?” Natasha didn’t say anything, but he could feel her waiting him out. It was a contest he knew he’d never win so he sighed again and looked back at her.

 

“Yeah, okay. We only had a couple books around that I remember, but _The Cat in the Hat_ was one of them. I was obsessed. I couldn’t read yet, so I made Barney read it to me over and over again until I had it memorized. I’m sure it pissed him off to no end, but he kept doing it anyway.” Clint could still picture the scowl that would settle on his brother’s face, the way he’d spit out the obligatory “last time, loser”, sigh heavily, and open the cardboard cover on the book once again.

 

“Then our dad went through one of his tears through the house, gathering up anything he thought he could pawn and took all the books. But,” Clint laughed mirthlessly, “turns out it wasn’t our book. Barney had swiped it from the library. I guess it had a stamp inside the cover or something. So the pawn shop called the library on my dad, and they made him pay a fine for it. I realize now it can’t have been more than a few dollars. But it didn’t matter with dad. He stormed out with the book, came home, and threw it across the room at my head.” Clint rubbed a spot behind his temple. “I sort of went off it after that.”

 

Clint blew his breath out and looked down at Natasha’s sock feet lying in his lap. The socks, he was absurdly pleased to notice, were his.

 

Natasha was still looking at him carefully, her expression inscrutable. After another moment, she opened her mouth. “You still have it memorized?”

 

Clint blinked in surprise. “Uh, yeah I guess. I haven’t really thought about it in years. But…” He closed his eyes and murmured a few lines to himself. “Yeah I think so.”

 

“Good.” Natasha nodded once, and let her book slide to the floor. She settled herself comfortably against the couch arm. “Tell it to me.”

 

Clint laughed. “You want me to tell you a kid’s story?”

 

“Yes. You got anywhere else to be, Barton?” She smiled at him, and deliberately nudged his hand with her foot. Clint laughed again, and obligingly picked it up and began rubbing her heel.

 

“Alright. The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play…”

  
  
  
  



End file.
